Roku streams to Austin; company hiring

AUSTIN – Roku Inc. will open a development center at the Westech 360 building off North Capital of Texas Hwy. in West Austin. The company could employ up to 50 software and hardware engineers.

Scott de Haas, vice president of Roku’s hardware engineering department, said the company is turning to Austin, which has tech talent waiting to be hired, despite the region’s impressively low unemployment rate. "We’re here to expand our engineering efforts," said de Haas.

Other major California-based tech companies have announced Austin expansions. Dropbox Inc. and Websense Inc. are expected to add more than 600 jobs, and Spansion Inc. also appears to have major expansion ideas.

Saratoga, Calif.-based Roku Inc. makes streaming media players for televisions.